Evaluating the writings of one of the most significant religious figures in early modern England, this volume summarizes Owen's life, explores his various intellectual, literary and political contexts, and considers his roles as a preacher, administrator, polemicist and theologian. It explores the importance of Owen, reviews the state of scholarship and suggests new avenues for research. The first part of the volume offers brand-new assessments of Owen's intellectual formation, pastoral ministry, educational reform at Oxford, political connections in the Cromwellian revolution, support of nonconformity during the Restoration, interaction with the scientific revolution and understanding of philosophy. The second part of the volume considers Owen's prolific literary output. A cross-section of well-known and frequently neglected works are reviewed and situated in their historical and theological contexts. The volume concludes by evaluating ways that Owen scholarship can benefit historians, theologians, biblical scholars, ministers and Christian readers.

One of the unique aspects of the religious profession is the high percentage of those who claim to be "called by God" to do their work. This call is particularly important within African American Christian traditions. Divine Callings offers a rare sociological examination of this markedly understudied phenomenon within black ministry. Richard N. Pitt draws on over 100 in-depth interviews with Black Pentecostal ministers in the Church of God in Christ-both those ordained and licensed and those aspiring-to examine how these men and women experience and pursue "the call." Viewing divine calling as much as a social process as it is a spiritual one, Pitt delves into the personal stories of these individuals to explore their work as active agents in the process of fulfilling their calling. In some cases, those called cannot find pastoral work due to gender discrimination, lack of clergy positions, and educational deficiencies. Pitt looks specifically at how those who have not obtained clergy positions understand their call, exploring the influences of psychological experience, the congregational acceptance of their call, and their response to the training process. He emphasizes how those called reconceptualize clericalism in terms of who can be called, how that call has to be certified, and what those called are meant to do, offering insight into how social actors adjust to structural constraints.

This book focuses on the gender roles within the Unification Church, and on particularly the gender roles as expressed through the vows of marriage. It examines the more widely shared patriarchal assumptions about women in a circumscribed socio-religious environment, with the Church s gender role system being investigated largely on the level of its theological explanations for gender roles. The Church s ethos, its lived reality, is also examined, and for this many interviews have been conducted with the blessed, the married couples.

First published in 1992."

In the late eighteenth century a small Shaker community travelled to America under the leadership of 'Mother Ann' Lee. The American communities they founded were based on ideals of pacifism, celibacy and gender equality. The texts included in this edition come from first-hand accounts of life in the Shaker communities during the nineteenth century.

Our world is full of fear: fear of death, public speaking, flying, drowning, failure, rejection, snakes, needles, heights, darkness, enclosed places, and countless more. Satan uses fear to steal joy, kill opportunity, and destroy hope. God has an antidote: supernatural courage. Our favorite Bible heroes achieved results greater than their natural abilities because of bravery that came only from God. Followers of Jesus throughout history have had the Holy Spirit come upon them to achieve supernatural outcomes. In Supernatural Courage, Robinson uses biblical examples, interviews, and testimonies, along with Bible promises, prayers, and activations to impart spiritual bravery for strength to live a life beyond what's normal. These pages will help activate supernatural courage in your life so that you can hope--and then persevere through overwhelming challenges, stand against intimidation, believe for the impossible, forgive amid injustice, use spiritual gifts for spiritual victories, and finish the race God has given you.

The Pentecostal World provides a comprehensive and critical introduction to one of the most vibrant and diverse expressions of contemporary Christianity. Unlike many books on Pentecostalism, this collection of essays from all continents does not attempt to synthesize and simplify the movement's inherent diversity and fragmented dispersion. Instead, the global flows of Pentecostalism are firmly grounded in local histories and expressions as well as the various modes of their worldwide reproduction. The book thus argues for a new understanding of Pentecostal and Charismatic movements that accounts for the simultaneous processes of pluralization and homogenization in contemporary World Christianity. Written by a distinguished team of international contributors across various disciplines, the volume is comprised of six sections, with each offering a critical perspective on classical themes in the study of Pentecostalism. Led by a programmatic introduction, the thirty-six chapters within these sections explore a variety of themes: history and historiography, conversion, spirit beliefs and exorcism, prosperity, politics, gender relations, sexual identities, racism, development, migration, pilgrimage, inter-religious relations, media, ecumenism, and academic research. The Pentecostal World is essential reading for students and researchers in anthropology, history, political science, religious studies, sociology, and theology. The Handbook will also be very useful for those in related fields, such as culture studies, Black studies, ethnic studies, and gender studies.

This book presents the history and theology of a remarkable body of Christians, formed as a result of the revival of interest in the prophetic Scriptures stimulated by the events of the French Revolution. Here we have an example of a charismatic renewal within the mainstream Churches, which was rejected by them, and which hence led to a worldwide body, governed by "restored apostles," and with its own structure, liturgy, doctrine, and hierarchy of ministers. It was a movement directed towards the reunion of the Churches, uncompromising in its adherence to Scripture, its typological interpretation of the Old Testament, and in its longing for the Parousia. It sought to bring together all that was best in the various Christian traditions. Eastern as well as Western, in preparation for the return of the Church's Bridegroom in glory. The strong ecumenical purpose of this body; its approach to the reunification of Churches and clergy; the breadth and beauty of its liturgy; its resolution of internal tensions between the charismatic and established hierarchical ministries; and its emphasis on eschatology: all these are of particular relevance to Christians today.

The Shakers are perhaps the best known of American religious communities. Their ethos and organization had a practical influence on many other communities and on society as a whole. This three volume collection presents writings from a broad cross-section of those who opposed the Shakers and their way of life.

Jesus didn't come to earth just to save us from hell. He suffered, died, and rose again for the complete deliverance and healing you long for. Soul wounds affect each of us and leave broken places in our lives that need healing. When we seek inner healing but don't also close demonic doorways to the enemy, we simply mask the issue temporarily and may find ourselves in more bondage than we experienced previously. A respected minister of deliverance, Kathy DeGraw will show you through biblical insights, real-life examples, and practical instruction how you can * discern and destroy the root of fear, anger, addictions, rejection, and other strongholds that just won't go away * use repentance, forgiveness, and robust spiritual warfare prayers and declarations to possess freedom * minister deliverance and inner healing to others * and more The Holy Spirit wants to open your eyes to the strongholds that have kept you stuck. It's time to be unshackled and free!

The work of John Howard Yoder has become increasingly influential in recent years. Moreover, it is gaining influence in some surprising places. No longer restricted to the world of theological ethicists and Mennonites, Yoder has been discovered as a refreshing voice by scholars working in many other fields. For thirty-five years, Yoder was known primarily as an articulate defender of Christian pacifism against a theological ethics guild dominated by the Troeltschian assumptions reflected in the work of Walter Rauschenbusch and Reinhold and Richard Niebuhr. But in the last decade, there has been a clearly identifiable shift in direction. A new generation of scholars has begun reading Yoder alongside figures most often associated with post-structuralism, neo-Nietzscheanism, and post-colonialism, resulting in original and productive new readings of his work. At the same time, scholars from outside of theology and ethics departments, indeed outside of Christianity itself, like Romand Coles and Daniel Boyarin, have discovered in Yoder a significant conversation partner for their own work. This volume collects some of the best of those essays in hope of encouraging more such work from readers of Yoder and in hopes of attracting others to his important work.

Interview with Allan Carlson

In an ironic twist, American evangelical leaders are joining mainstream acceptance of contraception. Godly Seed: American Evangelicals Confront Birth Control, 1873-1973, examines how mid-twentieth-century evangelical leaders eventually followed the mainstream into a quiet embrace of contraception, complemented by a brief acceptance of abortion. It places this change within the context of historic Christian teaching regarding birth control, including its origins in the early church and the shift in arguments made by the Reformers of the sixteenth century. The book explores the demographic effects of this transition and asks: did the delay by American evangelicals leaders in accepting birth control have consequences?

At the same time, many American evangelicals are rethinking their acceptance of birth control even as a majority of the nation's Roman Catholics are rejecting their church's teaching on the practice. Raised within a religious movement that has almost uniformly condemned abortion, many young evangelicals have begun to ask whether abortion can be neatly isolated from the issue of contraception. A significant number of evangelical families have, over the last several decades, rejected the use of birth control and returned decisions regarding family size to God. Given the growth of the evangelical movement, this pioneering work will have a large-scale impact.

Prayer is not a practice or a ritual. It is a place.

A secret place in the Spirit. A place of divine encounters with our heavenly Father where we express our love for Him and enter the dimensions of His glory and power. Where we welcome His presence, receive His revelation and guidance for our life, and are empowered to serve His purposes on earth while experiencing the outpouring of His grace through miracles, healings, deliverances, and salvations. With a scriptural foundation, the conviction of personal experience, and the evidence of many testimonies, Guillermo Maldonado passionately reveals how to enter this place in the Spirit so we, as the body of Christ, can become “a house of prayer.” Discover the joy of two-way communication with the Father. Learn not only to hear His voice but to listen and act on what He is saying to you. See how to build momentum in your prayer life, creating a spiritual atmosphere in which God moves powerfully on behalf of His people. Discover essential keys for breakthrough--and how to have all your prayers answered according to God's will and Word. There has never been a more vital time to find our place in prayer. We are in a period of increased opposition from the enemy as we draw closer to the day of Christ’s return. This requires us to attain a higher level of spiritual power and authority, which can only come through breakthrough prayer that ushers us into God’s presence. Nothing else will prepare us to meet the challenges that are coming our way. Nothing else will prepare us for the second coming of Christ. Now is the time to be spiritually vigilant! Now is the time to watch and pray!

This group biography follows three generations of ministers' daughters and wives in a famed American Unitarian family. Shifting the focus from pulpit to parsonage, and from sermon to whispered secrets, Cynthia Tucker humanizes the Eliots and their religious tradition and lifts up a largely neglected female vocation. Spanning 150 years from the early 19th century forward, the narrative shapes itself into a series of stories. Each of six chapters takes up a different woman's defining experience, from the deaths of numerous children and the anguish of infertility to the suffocation of small parish life with its chronic loneliness, doubt, and resentment. One woman confides in a rare close friend, another in the anonymous readers of magazines that publish her poems. A third escapes from an ill-fitting role by succumbing to neurasthenia, leaving one debilitating condition for another. The matriarch's granddaughters script larger lives, bypassing marriage and churchly employment to follow their hearts into same-sex relationships, and major careers in public health and preschool education. In two concluding chapters, Tucker enlarges the frame to bring in the regular parish women who collectively give voice to issues the ministers' kin must keep to themselves. All of the stories are linked by the women's continuing battles to make themselves heard over clerical wisdom that contradicts their reality.

Practical Insight on Praying for the Sick from Two Bestselling Authors If you could sit down and talk privately with two world-renowned leaders in healing ministry--away from the spotlights, stages, and eager crowds--this is the conversation you would have! Bestselling authors Randy Clark and Bill Johnson witness the miraculous regularly and see thousands touched by God each year. Now, in a rare behind-the-scenes format, these close friends interview each other, sharing with you the heartbreaks and victories, the failures and successes, the personal and candid insights into their extraordinary journeys. With honesty and humor, Clark and Johnson reveal * how they first heard God's call * the hard-learned lessons that propelled them forward * the most amazing miracles each has witnessed * detailed strategies for more effective ministry * and much more These real-life reflections from two soldiers on the front lines of healing ministry will inspire your own obedience to God's voice, your deeper faith that God is at work, and your trust in his power to bring the answers you need.

This book explores the ordinary beliefs and practices of Pentecostal/Charismatic Christians in relation to the Holy Spirit. It does this by means of a congregational study of a classical Pentecostal church in the UK, using participant observation, focus groups and documentary and media analysis. This approach develops a framework in which the narratives of informants can be interpreted. Focusing on specific areas of interest, such as conversion, healing, prayer or social action, each contribution from respondents is situated within the context of the congregation and interpreted by means of the broader Christian tradition. This book makes a unique contribution to scholarship by offering a rich and varied picture of contemporary Christians in the Pentecostal and Charismatic traditions, enabling a greater understanding to be appreciated for both academic and ecclesial audiences.

In 1740, Benjamin Franklin published the first American edition of Gospel Sonnets, by the eminent Scottish Presbyterian minister Ralph Erskine. The work, already in its fifth British edition, quickly became an American bestseller and remained so throughout the eighteenth century. Franklin was aware of what most scholars of American religion and literature have forgotten -that poetry played a central role in the "surprising works of God" that birthed evangelicalism. The far-reaching social transformations precipitated by the transatlantic evangelical revivals of the eighteenth century depended upon the development of a major literary form, that of revival poetry. Literary scholars and historians of religion have prioritized sermons, conversion narratives, periodicals, and hymnody. Wendy Roberts here argues that poetry offered a unique capacity to "diffuse celestial Fervor through the World," in the words of the cleric Samuel Davies. Awakening Verse is the first monograph to address this large corpus of evangelical poetry in the American colonies, shedding light on important dimensions of eighteenth-century religious and literary culture. Roberts deftly assembles a large, previously unknown archive of immensely popular poems, examines how literary history has rendered this poetic tradition invisible, and demonstrates how a vibrant popular poetics exercised a substantial effect on the landscape of early American religion, literature, and culture.